characteristic
Also char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal. pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinctive: Red and gold are the characteristic colors of autumn.
a distinguishing feature or quality: Generosity is his chief characteristic.
Mathematics.
the integral part of a common logarithm.: Compare mantissa.
the exponent of 10 in a number expressed in scientific notation.
the smallest positive integer n such that each element of a given ring added to itself n times results in 0.
Origin of characteristic
1synonym study For characteristic
Other words for characteristic
Other words from characteristic
- char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- non·char·ac·ter·is·tic, adjective
- non·char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- qua·si-char·ac·ter·is·tic, adjective
- qua·si-char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- un·char·ac·ter·is·tic, adjective
- un·char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby characteristic
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use characteristic in a sentence
What Mulan doesn’t know is that her greatest strengths are the very characteristics she’s been urged to hide — her intellect, her quick thinking, her ingenuity — and in the end they’re key to saving her country.
Links and knots are topological characteristics, in that they don’t change when vortices are stretched, compressed or otherwise deformed.
An Unexpected Twist Lights Up the Secrets of Turbulence | David H. Freedman | September 3, 2020 | Quanta MagazineSub-6GHz 5G has much better signal characteristics and has a shot of a wide rollout.
Qualcomm is bringing 5G to everyone with cheap 5G Snapdragon chips | Ron Amadeo | September 3, 2020 | Ars TechnicaThe rule is more of the same, allowing shelter staff to judge the physical characteristics of those seeking services to decide who is sufficiently male or sufficiently female.
Trump administration targets homeless trans Americans | Jennifer Wexton | September 2, 2020 | Washington BladeBecause different types of neurons have their characteristic ways of spiking—that is, the “shape” of their spikes are diverse—the chip can also be configured to detect the particular spikes you’re looking for.
Neuralink’s Wildly Anticipated New Brain Implant: the Hype vs. the Science | Shelly Fan | September 1, 2020 | Singularity Hub
She said the defining characteristic of her husband was his sensitivity.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left Behind | Brin-Jonathan Butler | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe wears his characteristic white shalwar kameez with a tattered gray waistcoat.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley | Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman | November 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMost have been straightforward cases where the child came in with the characteristic rash.
Predator Doctors Take Advantage of Patients With ‘Chronic Lyme’ Scam | Russell Saunders | September 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAny person or group can be prejudiced against another group, for any reason and based on any characteristic.
It's remarkable, too, that during his delivery, Lou showed no significant signs of slurred speech, often so characteristic of ALS.
The Stacks: The Day Lou Gehrig Delivered Baseball’s Gettysburg Address | Ray Robinson | July 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFibrinous casts are characteristic of fibrinous bronchitis, but may also be found in diphtheria of the smaller bronchi.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddIn this case, I suspect, there was co-operant a strongly marked childish characteristic, the love of producing an effect.
Children's Ways | James SullyA characteristic which distinguished them and which impressed Mrs. Pontellier most forcibly was their entire absence of prudery.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinMost characteristic is the presence of Curschmann's spirals, Charcot-Leyden crystals, and eosinophilic leukocytes.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddWhen pneumonia occurs during the course of a chronic bronchitis, the characteristic rusty red sputum may not appear.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
British Dictionary definitions for characteristic
/ (ˌkærɪktəˈrɪstɪk) /
a distinguishing quality, attribute, or trait
maths
the integral part of a common logarithm, indicating the order of magnitude of the associated number: the characteristic of 2.4771 is 2 Compare mantissa
another name for exponent, used esp in number representation in computing
indicative of a distinctive quality, etc; typical
Derived forms of characteristic
- characteristically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for characteristic
[ kăr′ək-tə-rĭs′tĭk ]
The part of a logarithm to the base 10 that is to the left of the decimal point. For example, if 2.749 is a logarithm, 2 is the characteristic. Compare mantissa.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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